TAMBO & BONES Production Photos by The Other Richard. Featuring Rhashan Stone as TAMBO, Daniel Ward as BONES, Jaron Lammens as X-BOT-1, & Dru Cripps as X-BOT-2
TAMBO & BONES are stuck in a minstrel show. It’s hard to know what’s real when you’re stuck in a minstrel show. Their escape plan: get out, get rich, get even.
Tambo (Rhashan Stone) & Bones (Daniel Ward) took audiences on their journey from comedy double-act, to hip-hop superstars, to activists in an America at the epicentre of the global Black Lives Matter movement in June & July of 2023.
TAMBO & BONES laughs through our past, blows the roof off our present and imagines an explosive future for our world… and for theatre.
‘A racially charged metatheatrical satire and “rags-to-riches hip-hop odyssey” by slam poet turned playwright Dave Harris.’ (Time Out New York, 30 best Off Broadway shows to see in Spring 2022)
Presented by Theatre Royal Stratford East and Actors Touring Company.
Dave Harris is a poet and playwright from West Philly. Selected plays include Tambo & Bones (Playwrights Horizons, Center Theatre Group, 2022), Exception to the Rule (Roundabout Theatre Company, 2022), Incendiary (Woolly Mammoth 2023) and Everybody Black (Humana Festival, 2019). His first feature film, Summertime premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Dave is currently writing the feature adaptation of The Fortress of Solitude for Amazon, and an original television project at FX, ABC Studios and Goddard Textiles. Selected honours include the Ollie Award, The Lorraine Hansberry Award and Mark Twain Award from The Kennedy Center, The International Commendation for The Bruntwood Prize and a Cave Canem poetry fellowship, amongst others.
CREATIVES
Written by Dave Harris
Director – Matthew Xia
Designers – Sadeysa Greenaway-Bailey & ULTZ
Lighting Designer – Ciarán Cunningham
Hip-Hop Beats Produced by Excalibah*
Sound Designer & Additional Composition by Richard Hammarton
Movement Director – Kloé Dean
Video Designer – Gino Ricardo Green
Casting Director – Julia Horan CDG
Assistant Director – Danielle Kassarate
Costume Supervisor – Ysanne Tidd
Fight Director – Kevin McCurdy
Voice & Dialect Coach – Joel Trill
Magic & Illusions Consultant – Chris Cox
Production Dramatherapist – Wabriya King
Puppetry Designer – Hugh Purves
Assistant Designer – Mark Simmons
*WAR produced by Roly Botha and Excalibah
Dollas to Dreams produced by Excalibah and Roly Botha
PRODUCTION TEAM
Production Managers – Jess Harwood & Luke Child
Deputy Production Managers – Daniel Steward & Simon Godfrey
Stage Manager – Marie-Angelique St. Hill
Deputy Stage Manager – Phyllys Egharevba
Assistant Stage Manager – Anna Townley
Assistant Stage Manager – Dynzell Muguti
Head of Lighting – Charlie Mann
Lighting Deputy – Sam Marshall
Head of Sound – Jeremy George
Company Manager – Vanessa Sutherland
Wardrobe Manager – Shereen Maungoo
Stage Crew – Emily Forbes & Amy Le Sage
Scenic Carpenters – Bartosz Chmielak & India Milla
Puppet Maker – Emily Tupholme
Illusion Builder – Thomas Moore
Illusion Knives – Steven Herbert for Bloody Stuff
– Shereen Maungoo
CAST
Tambo – Rhashan Stone
Bones – Daniel Ward
REVIEWS
️️️️ “As entertaining as it is unnerving” The Stage️️️️ “Unique, challenging and oh-so necessary” The Guardian️️️️ “Tambo & Bones is a necessary piece of theatre. To display entertainment and humour with such grave and painful topics is a skill very few have. The work of ATC‘s Artistic Director Matthew Xia, was visible throughout, alongside an incredible team of creatives making AN INCREDIBLE PIECE OF THEATRE.” The Rendition️️️️ “Like nothing you’ve ever seen” The Telegraph️️️️ “This is not your typical play about race” The Times️️️️ “It blew my mind … a masterpiece” Afridiziak️️️️ “Unpredictably bonkers… fasten your seatbelt” Broadway World️️️️️ “By far the best new American play I have seen for years” LondonTheatre1️️️️️ “A stellar work of art” All That Dazzles️️️️️ “Remarkable” North West End️️️️️ “A new classic” lastminutetheatretick